Shnapir and Castelli having a breakout season

Sudbury’s Simon Shnapir and his skating partner, Marissa Castelli, are headed to the US Figure Skating Championships next month in Omaha. And the pair will do so with renewed confidence and their highest world ranking.

The Boston Globe article at the link above says that he "was born in Moscow and emigrated with his family to this country in 1989."
"This country" means the U.S.
And "Sudbury" is Sudbury, Massachusetts -- located 17 miles from Boston, according to his high school's profile http://www.lsrhs.net/sites/info/file...ROFILE2013.pdf

Another thing that the article didn't mention is that Marissa also skates with Theatre on Ice of Boston. We saw her perform both with Simon and with Ice Theatre on Ice of Boston at Everning with Champions, and she was great in both disciplines

They are doing well but it appear more than anything they are just lucky too as well. Timing is everything and there are retirements, injuries which all seemed to help them move up the rankings bot in the world and US. Good team but they also seem to be a bit luck especially with timing. I think they can win nationals but a world medal is going to be a huge challenge.

Great article, thanks for sharing. Castelli & Shnapir are my hometown pairs team, so I root for them! I love that Bobby, their coach, said Marissa is "a rock star when she skates." I totally agree! Having seen them live a couple times, I've really been struck by Marissa's stage presence and "it" factor. She just draws your attention on the ice.

Watching them at NHK, I think there is no reason Castelli & Shnapir can't be at the same type of level as teams like Denney/Coughlin and Moore-Towers/Moscovitch. They have all the big tricks, like those teams, and quite decent pairs quality. They just need to believe in themselves, build their confidence more, and continue to get more competitive experience. If they make Worlds, I think a top 10 finish would be a certainty. Obviously they would not be in medal contention yet--they'll need to improve a lot artistically for that, and also improve as a pair--but I think top 8 would be quite achievable. I will really be rooting for them at Nationals & just hope they can handle the pressure of essentially coming in as the favorites (with D/C out).

Other than experience, the four things C&S need are (IMO)
1. decide on what they are doing with their combo jumps in the LP.
Their 3S in the SP is pretty consistent now. And they landed a 3T in the LP at NHK. The 2A in sequence doesn't seem to work for them. This should be fixable. It seems like they are struggling with a strategy on this
2. getting more than level 1 on their triple twist. The twist is high and well done-they should be able to add the little twidgets that would earn them more than level 1.
3. They are currently doing throw 3S and throw 2A in the LP. They have toyed with the throw 3A, but maybe they should spend the time to work out whatever problems they might have with one of the other triple throws.
4. A little better unison on the SBS spins

Only item 3 looks tough to me. I don't know what problems they have with 3FTh or 3LpTh, but clearly there must be a problem in some way for them, or they wouldn't be doing a 2ATh

Good points, Doris. In regard to point #3, I'm wondering if the throw 2Axel appears in the program because their planned content is throw 3Axel, but they then make a mid-program decision to do throw 2Axel instead? If this is the case, it's probably not the best strategy anyway. Either commit to throw 3Axel or switch to a different throw. Maybe they've been practicing throw 3Axel for so long that their other throws are a bit rusty . . .

Regarding points #1 and #2, keep in mind that Bobby Martin, Marissa & Simon's coach, is new to this level of coaching. He's not had any elite pairs prior to C&S and D&S (that I'm aware of, anyhow). So he may still be learning the finer points of strategy and technique polishing at the world level. Overall, their whole team, C&S included, is relatively inexperienced, with the exception of the choreographer. I would imagine another year or so on the elite level will help them all improve and sharpen strategy, especially if Marissa & Simon make Worlds this year.

What's happening is not only the emergence of a strong new pair, but also, potentially, the development of a new elite pairs coaching team in the U.S. We need more strong pairs coaches in this country, so I wish them success.